Railway-rail joint.



No. 727,794. PATENTED MAY 12, 1903.

T. HIGGINS.

RAILWAY RAIL JOINT. nrmouxon PILFD MAR. 20. 1903.

10 MODEL.

NlTED STATES Patented May 12, 1903.

PATENT FFlCE..

THOMAS HIGGINS, on JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF TWO- THIRDS To-eEoRen-o. 'KURTZ AND ANDREW MAUTHEY, OF JOHNS- TOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

RAILWAY- RAH. JOINT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letterslatent No. 727,79l, dated May 12, 1903.

Application filed March 20, 1903.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be' it known that I, THOMAS HIGGINS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Johnstown, in the county of Cambria and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Railway-Rail Joint, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway-rail j oi uts, and has for its object to simplify and improve devices of this character and to produce a joint which will firmly support and sustain l he rail ends without the use of bolts or spikes and without the necessity of forming apertu res or cavities of any kind in the rail ends or otherwise mutilating them.

Another object of the invention is to prod nee a rail-joint wherein all the parts may be constructed by rolling or without hand-labor.

Other novel features of the construction will appear in the annexed description and be specified in the claims following.

In the drawings illustrative of the invention, in which corresponding parts are denoted by like designating characters, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the adjacent ends of a pair of railway-rails with the improved joint applied. Fig. 2 is a transverse section on a line opposite the ends of the rails. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the base-frame detached. Fig. 4: represents one of the oppositely-disposed clamp-bars in perspective and detached. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the wedge-key detached.

The improved device is adapted to all sizes of railway-rails and requires no apertures, recesses, or other mutilation of the rail ends, and consists in a base-plate 10, supporting the adjacent ends 11 12 of the rails, the ends of the rails meeting midway of the base, as shown in Fig. 1. The base member 10 is formed with vertical side walls 13 14., the latter having longitudinal grooves 15 16 in their inner faces and vertical grooves 17 18 intersecting the longitudinal grooves at'the center of the walls and opposite the meeting-poiut'of the rails 11 12. The bottoms of the vertical grooves are provided with upwardly-extending wedge'shaped lugs 19, and the base member 10 is provided with a transverse rib 20,

Serial No. 148,754. (No model.)

that when driven home in the sockets formed by the registering apertures the lower ends of the key-wedges will be distended laterally upon the lugs 19, and thus firmly lock and bind the wedge-keys'in position and likewise firmly lock and bind the parts together. The wedge-keys thus not only efiectually prevent longitudinal movement between the parts, but likewise prevent any lateral or vertical separation so long as they are in their engaged position, as will be obvious. By this means a very simple, inexpensive, and etficient rail-joint is produced, which will firmly unite and support the rail ends, prevent sagging or other movement, and when supported by the usual ballast will practically produce a continuous rail, as there is no more yielding at the joints than at other parts. Preferably the wedgekeys will be formed just long enough to come flush with the tops of the sidewalls 13 14 when driven home, so that when the joint is completed it cannot be released except by its destruction. By this means all'surreptitious releasing of the joints will be obviated and the safety of the line materially increased.

The base member 10, with its side walls 13 14c and their parts and the clamp-bars, will be rolled with properly-constructed rolls and can therefore be manufactured at small expense and of ample strength to efi'ectually resist the severe strains to which they-are subjected.

By this simple c0nstrnction,it will be noted, all bolts and detachable pins and other parts are obviated and a boltless joint produced,

which will very efiectually join the rail ends and firmly lock and support them.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is- 1. A railway-rail joint consisting of a base member adapted to support the rail ends and formed with spaced vertical side walls having longitudinal grooves in their inner faces and with oppositely-disposed vertical grooves intersecting said longitudinal grooves, clampbars fitting between said rail ends and side walls and formed with longitudinal ribs engaging said longitudinal grooves and with vertical grooves registering with the vertical grooves in said side walls, and Wedge-keys adapted to be forced into said registering vertical grooves, substantially as described.

2. A railway-rail joint consisting of a base member adapted to support the rail ends and formed with a transverse rib between said rail ends and with spaced vertical side walls having longitudinal grooves in their inner faces and with oppositely-disposed vertical grooves intersecting said longitudinal grooves, clamp-bars fitting between said rail ends and side walls and formed with longitudinal ribs engaging said longitudinal grooves and with vertical grooves registering with the vertical grooves in said side walls, and wedge-keys adapted to be forced into said registering vertical grooves, substantially as described.

3. A railway-rail joint consisting of a base member adapted to support the rail ends and formed with spaced vertical side walls having longitudinal grooves in their inner faces and with oppositely-disposed vertical grooves intersecting said longitudinal grooves, and with lugs having inclined sides extending into said vertical grooves, clamp-bars fitting between said rail ends and side walls and formed with longitudinal ribs engaging said longitudinal grooves and with vertical grooves corresponding to and registering with the vertical grooves in said side Walls, and wedgekeys adapted to be forced into said registering grooves and provided with apertures in their lower ends adapted to engage said inclined lugs, and be spread thereby, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

TI-IOS. HIGGINS.

l/Vitnesses:

ANDREW llIAN'lI-IE, JNo. S. TITTLE. 

